Little Swishers league wraps first season at Cheyenne County Community Center

SIDNEY, Neb. — The Cheyenne County Community Center’s Little Swishers basketball league wrapped up its inaugural season Thursday night, concluding two months of camps, practices and three-on-three competition for first- and second-grade students.

The program was created by The Center’s basketball committee as an introduction to organized basketball for younger players. Sports Director Kendyl Wintholz said the positive response from families ensures the program will return.

“Everybody has loved it. I’ve gotten great feedback from everyone,” Wintholz said. “It looks like the kids are having so much fun. All the kids are sad that it’s over. We’ve been having a great time.”

To better accommodate the young athletes, rims at The Center were lowered to 8½ feet. Hoop adapters were also installed at West Elementary through local donations, including support from Trina Jung and the SAGA Fund. Youth-size basketballs were provided by Sidney Regional Medical Center.

Wintholz said the structure of the program was designed to limit time demands on families while maximizing skill development. Each session included 30 minutes of practice followed by 30 minutes of game play.

“These coaches and these families with small kids don’t have to worry about extra practices amongst the game schedule,” Wintholz said. “They get to just do a quick 30 minutes of practice and 30 minutes of game action, and everybody has a lot less commitment. It’s nice. The kids retain the information better. They practice boxing out and then they get to practice boxing out in the game and put it into play.”

The program also serves as preparation for The Center League, which includes third- through sixth-grade players.

“My goal was to get kids to love basketball and to come back year-after-year, and I think I did that,” Wintholz said. “I don’t think there was a single kid that didn’t want to be on this court all season.”

Wintholz thanked parents, volunteers and community supporters for helping launch the program’s first season.

The Cheyenne County Community Center will host it's Youth Classic Basketball Tournament in Sidney and Peetz next weekend, Feb. 28 and March 1.